Respect
by Liv Pierce
Summary: Derek shares his view on 'respect' with Casey. A short Dasey drabble.


**A/n: Alright, folks. This is my first Life With Derek story. It's not even a story, it's more like a scene. I think this may constitute as a drabble. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own LWD, sadly. I'd love to be able to call Derek, or more aptly Michael Seater my own, but what girl wouldn't?**

"De-rek!"

There it was the one sound that drove him wild. He must have been a masochist to enjoy the sound that usually precipitated his punishment. The whine in her voice as she stretched the syllables out was pure music to his ears—better than nearly any rock he could blast. And blast he did, often just to hear the sound of her complaint as she appeared at his door, ordering him to turn the music down. She was at his door now, pointing one manicured finger in the direction of the bathroom. If the sound of her voice drove him wild, the angry glint in her eyes sent him up the wall.

"Is it really that hard to remember to put the toilet seat down? I know you were only potty-trained yesterday, but it's not that hard a thing to do."

"Why do you automatically assume I was the last one in there? Maybe it was Ed."

"I _assume_ because Edwin hasn't been home since he left for school this morning. You're the only guy in the house right now, it had to be you."

"Uh uh uh, Princess. Ever stop and think that maybe it was Smarti? She did inherit the Venturi pranking gene, after all."

"Don't call me 'Princess'." Casey bristled at the pet name Derek had adopted over the years for her. "And I thought of that, but Marti hasn't been upstairs since she got home. Start putting it down, Derek."

"Whatever you say, _Princess_." He smirked the infamous Venturi smirk, the one that he knew for a fact could make any girl at school swoon and do his bidding, the one that he also knew, even more for fact, that Casey McDonald hated with a passion. And if she wouldn't be passionate about him in any other aspect, she would be passionate about hating his smirk.

He chuckled as he watched Casey spin around with an exasperated sigh and march out of his doorway. A silent countdown in his head of 3, 2, 1…and there it was, the slam of her bedroom door. Now she was even closer than before, separated from him by only a couple of thin sheets of drywall. Maybe he could get a rise out of her one more time before dinner.

Derek's self-satisfied smirk never left his face as he reached over and causally turned up the volume of his music. A flip of another switch and the bass was up as loud as it could go, sending the items on his desk and shelves bouncing. Now all he had to do was wait.

"Two visits within five minutes. I must be the lucky fellow today," he said sarcastically, though his sarcasm was genuinely fake. "Case, if you like being in my room so much, all you've gotta do is ask. You really don't need to wait for some excuse to get mad." He had turned the music down the second the door opened, not feeling like yelling over it. Knowing Casey, however, she'd probably yell whether the music was loud or not.

"Other people live in this house besides you, Derek. I know it's probably beyond your comprehension, but maybe you could look up the word 'respect' and take a hint." Casey was seething, the fact that he could just sit there calmly as she yelled only serving to encourage her anger.

"Oh, I know what respect means. It's in that song, ya know 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me…" he stood from his desk and moved toward her, coming quite close, "You wanna know what it means to me, Case?" He asked the girl in front of him, who at that moment was trying to stifle giggles at the sound of 'Mr. Cool', Derek Venturi singing the classic girl anthem.

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me whether I want to know or not." Casey said with a raised eyebrow, her laughter finally subdued.

"You've caught onto the way things work around here finally," He said quietly. It was no secret that 'what Derek wants, Derek gets' was quickly becoming the family motto, "Well, Case, to me the most important respect is that that we pay to ourselves."

"Of course you'd have to go and get Derek-centric, wouldn't you?" She asked, amused, not at all unaware of the close proximity of Derek.

"Would I have it any other way? But I mean, you should respect your body and its limitations. You shouldn't do things that are harmful to you physically or mentally. If you respect yourself you don't do drugs or drink and you eat right and exercise and all that bull they teach us in health."

"You paid att…" Casey started, but was quickly interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, I paid attention. You can send out the news alert in a minute. As I was saying, if you really respect yourself, you don't put yourself in a situation where the temptation of something that shouldn't be tempting becomes a problem. Now, my temptation was placed here by others, but I've done nothing to get myself away from it. In fact," His smirked widened as he took a step forward, "I've done nothing but bring myself dangerously close to falling for temptation. And if I can't respect myself and get away from what can only be bad for me and my family, I'm going to give in to what tempts me."

With that he took one final step forward, bringing himself as close to Casey as possible, and bent down, bringing his lips to hers. The kiss was gentle, gentler than he had ever kissed a girl. He didn't put his arms around her, not at first. But when he felt her arms wind themselves around his neck, one hand going into the hair at the nape of his neck, and felt her return is kiss, he put his hands on her hips and pulled her to him, not letting go until he heard Nora call them for dinner.

**A/n II: I tried to keep them as in character as possible, but I'm my own worst critic when it comes to the potential of OOC-ness. I always think they're OOC. If you like it, review. If you hated it, review. Let me know either way. I want to know what you think. **


End file.
